The findings are significant because they show that accuracy is the
key—not whether children thought that other kids liked them or
not.

FSU News

Depression symptoms less likely in kids with accurate self-perceptions

by Jill Elish

Children who can accurately assess how their classmates feel about
them—even if those feelings are negative—are less likely to show
symptoms of depression, according to Florida State University
researchers.

Janet Kistner

Psychology Professor Janet Kistner found that children in third
through fifth grades who had the wrong idea about their level of
social acceptance were more likely to develop symptoms of depression
over time. The study, "Bias and Accuracy of Children's Perceptions
of Peer Acceptance: Prospective Associations with Depressive
Symptoms," was published in the Journal of Abnormal Child
Psychology. Graduate students Corinne David-Ferdon and Karla Repper
and psychology Professor Thomas Joiner were co-authors.

"There's a long-running debate in the field of psychology about
whether realistic perceptions are a hallmark of positive adjustment
or they are associated with risk for depression," Kistner said. "Our
results support the perspective that realistic perceptions are a
hallmark of mental health."

The findings are significant because they show that accuracy is the
key—not whether children thought that other kids liked them or
not. That's important because some psychologists have theorized that
people who have a positive bias—meaning they think others like
them more than they actually do—are protected against developing
symptoms of depression, while those who have a negative bias are
prone to maladjustment and depression. The researchers found neither
to be true.

Instead, they found that those who had symptoms of depression at the
start of the study over time became less accurate and more
negatively biased about how well they were liked, indicating that
negative bias is more of a consequence than a cause of depressive
symptoms. The researchers are the first to look at both bias and
accuracy, and the findings underscore the importance of studying
both facets of perceptual errors, Kistner said.

"Little attention has been given to the role that inaccurate
self-perceptions may play in children's risk for depression," she
said. "Our results suggest a possible self-perpetuating cycle in
which inaccurate perceptions lead to elevated depressive symptoms
and depressive symptoms lead to decreased accuracy of perceived peer
acceptance."

The findings are consistent with psychological theories that attempt
to explain social competence and general adjustment, according to
Kistner. Self-verification theory suggests that people are motivated
to maintain their self-perceptions, even if they are negative. Even
positive feedback can cause distress if it threatens their view of
themselves. Social competence theories center on the idea that
children who accurately perceive how others feel about them are
better able to modulate their behaviors in ways that maximize
acceptance. Greater social acceptance, in turn, is expected to be
associated with fewer symptoms of depression.

In Kistner's study, 667 children were given class rosters at the
beginning of the school year and asked how much they liked their
classmates on a scale of one to five and to predict the acceptance
ratings they would receive from each of their classmates. Their
predicted ratings were compared to the actual ratings they received
to measure perceptual accuracy. The children also were asked to
complete a questionnaire about whether they had experienced symptoms
of depression, including feeling sad, trouble concentrating and
sleeping problems. The experiment was repeated six months later.

The average age of the children at the start of the study was 9.4
years old. Prior to about age 8, children's self-perceptions tend to
be glowingly positive and unrealistic, according to Kistner. As
children's cognitive abilities develop and they begin to rely on
social comparisons to evaluate themselves, their exuberance gives
way to more realistic—and sometimes negative—self-perceptions.

"This is an important age group to study because there is growing
evidence of increased prevalence of depression in adolescence as
well as a decrease in the age of first onset of depression," Kistner
said. "We need to identify children in the late elementary school
grades who are at risk for depression and to increase our
understanding of the factors that contribute to the development of
depression."